


Caring

by Keeblo



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Bullying, Humanstuck, M/M, Mentions to self pain
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-18
Updated: 2014-08-26
Packaged: 2018-01-02 00:43:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1050501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keeblo/pseuds/Keeblo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He sobs loudly and hiccups. His voice bounces in the quiet area and the wind seems to fight with him to see who can be the loudest. Eventually his voice goes out and his tears run dry and he's left as a snivelling, hiccuping mess while a kid he's only spoken about two words to before consoles him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I really don't know how this happened, I was just writing so eck, here you go. (Mentions of impulse to inflict pain on self)

Eridan kicks pebbles as he walks down the sidewalk. Today hadn't been good at all. He had figured that by now his magic would have worked on his bullies and they wouldn't have been able to touch him. But that hadn't happened. His eye still throbs and his chest hurts, his bones feel like broken glass and he's not entirely sure how he's walking home but he is.

He grips his jacket around him tighter as he enters his house, sighing and hurrying upstairs, not wanting to be caught. He manages and heaves off everything but his boxers, curling up on his bed and letting a few tears slide down his cheeks and over his nose. After a while he's all cried out and he stands to walk to his bathroom. The damage is pretty bad. His right eye is swollen purple and black, his top lip busted, blood covering his cheeks from where it had run down them and smeared.

His torso isn't any better. His knuckles are painfully red and his ribs are raw. The indentions on his sides, arms and legs are clear as day on his lightened skin. He sighs and turns on the water in his bathtub and allows it to fill, watching as the water rises along the smooth white sides. When it's full he strips his boxers and slowly lowers himself in. His breath catches in his throat as the hot water illicits waves of blissful pain on his wounds and tender skin. His whole body feels like it's throbbing to a wild off beat rhythm but he doesn't mind. It feels good to mask the pain of his injuries and pride with a little self induced pain via hot bath water.

For a while he stays submerged, drifting between sleep and semi awakeness. His fingers drag lightly over every dent, bump, bruise, cut, mark until his skin has gone numb along with his mind. Nearly forty five minutes after getting in he finally drains the tub and gets out. His body throbs again dumbly against the cool air of his bedroom as he walks out and changes into new clothing. It takes him a while to get the courage to stand. He knows his family won't care. They'd probably say he should've been able to beat the other kids up...

He lets out a breath from his nose and walks to his door. On the way back outside he grabs a jacket and pulls it over his frame. He starts walking and doesn't stop. He doesn't stop until he's made it to the old train bridge over the river.

He hisses through his teeth when he sits down, legs on either side of a beam, forehead resting on the cool metal. A breeze stirs leaves past him and into the water below as a momentary distraction.

He isn't sure how long he's been sitting there, his legs long since numb and his forehead sticking to the beam when he sits up fully. But something isn't the same. He yawns, noticing the warmth on his back and the sniffle accompanied by a sort of grunt. Karkat's arms are slung over his shoulders and his head is resting on Eridan's shoulder. When had the short boy sat behind him?

He decides on shaking said boy until he wakes up and gives him a groggy 'what?'

"What are you doin here?" Karkat seems more awake now and has moved his hands to rest around Eridan's stomach.

"I was walking and I saw you. But you were asleep so I came over here to keep you warm...must've fell asleep myself." It's then he notices it's a lot darker out. "What were you upset about?" He stiffens some in Karkat's embrace.

Karkat rubs circles on his stomach and he flinches when the thumb runs over a large bruise. Karkat jumps and stares at him worriedly before lifting up his shirt to look at the marks. Eridan looks down at the water ashamed.

"Hey," Karkat turns Eridan's head towards him, "who did this?" And the concern in his voice is so thick, so  _there_ and he kind of wants to cry because he  _cares_ and no one's cared before. When he doesn't speak Karkat slides back and moves him till they're facing each other.

He doesn't think when he does it. Doesn't imagine what the resulting consequences will be when he removes his jacket and shirt, standing and straightening his spine so the marks are visible.

Karkat stands to, mouth open just a bit and cheeks flushed dark, eyebrows knit and jaw clenched. His voice is low and angry when he speaks, "Who did this?" Eridan looks at his feet, hands holding onto his jeans tight enough his knuckles throb.

Karkat steps forward then, touches a few of the injuries including his eye, and hugs him. Hugs him at the waist and hugs him hard. The hot tears roll down Eridan's chest in little trickles and -  _oh._ He hugs back, his own tears beginning to fall.

"Eridan,  _please,_ who did this?" He sniffles and buries his nose into Karkat's curly hair.

"Sollux an his friends..." Karkat's grip on him tightens momentarily before slacking quickly to avoid irritating his wounds.

"Sollux..." Karkat rubs his back and rocks them gently side to side until Eridan has all but begun to sob thickly, chest aching, heart aching, for someone to finally  _care_. His legs give out and Karkat follows him shooshing and papping his back. "It's okay, let it out." He sobs loudly and hiccups. His voice bounces in the quiet area and the wind seems to fight with him to see who can be the loudest. Eventually his voice goes out and his tears run dry and he's left as a snivelling, hiccuping mess while a kid he's only spoken about two words to before consoles him.

Karkat fists a hand in the hairs at Eridan's nape, squeezing lightly and rubbing his thumb on the area. "Sh, sh, it's okay, it's okay. I have you, it's okay, sh. It's okay, I won't let you go, sh." And this all but starts up another wave of gross sobbing. He wipes at his tears and shoves his palms into his eyes, wiping at his nose with the backs. Karkat pulls back and pulls his sleeve down, dabbing at Eridan's eyes and nose, not caring about his clothing. And he sees how truly  _broken_ Eridan looks with red puffy eyes and pink cheeks that contrast so beautifully against the blue of his eyes and the deep purple - black of the bruise covering a third of his face.

Eridan sits on his knees, still hiccuping occasionally as Karkat leans foreward and kisses his cheeks and nose, his forehead to his freckled shoulders and rests his head there, moving a hand to Eridan's hair to have him do the same. And they stay like that enveloped in each other until the stars are the only thing they can see anymore.

Finally Eridan's all cried out and he pulls his shirt and jacket back on because it's getting cold. Karkat stands and offers a hand which he gladly takes. He expects him to let go but he doesn't, he holds on tighter and starts to show him off the bridge.

"Do you want to stay at my house tonight?" And all he can do is nod slowly, tiredly, defeated. Karkat tells him to call home to say where he's at - he nearly protests because they won't care, but Karkat says it's better anyway so no one calls cops - before they're to his car and it's warm and comfortably silent and he's sleeping in the passenger seat with his hand still firmly in Karkat's.

Karkat wakes him up when they arrive at his house. He's nearly sure that someone with a deep voice asks who he is and Karkat replies with a 'later dad' before leading him to a den and making a pile using large blankets in front of the fire in the fireplace. It's a slow, tired comply when he crawls onto the pile and leans with Karkat against the couch. Who is hardly surprised when he passes out only a few moments later.

Sometime later that night Karkat leaves and talks to his father who nods and makes something for them for the next morning while Karkat goes outside and calls Sollux. And it's surprising that Eridan doesn't wake up from the terrible screaming which fades for a while when Karkat leaves in a rush to his friends house to confront him.

Eridan's dreams are silent that night, blissfully. He wakes up though, before Karkat comes back and stares at the low fire. When Karkat does come back he looks exausted and kicks off his shoes clumsily before climbing under the pile of blankets with Eridan. The blue eyed one understands when he doesn't say anything but leans against him. And Eridan grabs his hand under the blanket which they're both thankful for and no more questions are asked that night. And maybe after Karkat had fallen asleep and Eridan sat staring at his face with the lights dancing under his eyes and across his fuller lips, he felt like some part of him had been awoken, had been fufilled and completed.

He presses a soft kiss to Karkat's forehead and curls against his side with the lingering thought: someone  _cares_.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone ^w^ It seems to me that this story is getting pretty popular (whoops) and I never really had the plan to continue it, so if you like it and want to see more of something or see something in particular (plot idea, pairing, whatever) if you could comment it or message me on tumblr (keeblochan.tumblr.com) with it so that this story can continue a bit faster! :3 I'd really hate to give up on it because I have no ideas when people seem to like it uwu ~ That's all thanks.  
> EDIT: I am slightly changing what happens in this chapter so I have somewhere to go when I start this again.

Your name is Karkat Vantas and you are absolutely livid.  Eridan just fell asleep in the living room after telling you who beat him up. Your phone sounds ringing as you attempt to contact Sollux. On some odd number of rings later he answers, voice casual.

 

"Th' up KK. What can I do for you?" You snarl, pacing because you're just _so_ _an gr_ _y_.

"Don't 'sup' me you asshole." You stop and put you hand against your car, staring at the ground.

"Woah , what did I do thi 'th time?" Something on the other line catches your ear, the sound of a girl maybe?

"Why the _ fuck _  did you hurt Eridan? What gave you the right?" Your nostrils flare as they try to bring in more air.

"What?" More rustling and definitely a female's voice. "Hang on babe. How do you know?  Beth'ides that a'thhole deserved it. I didn't do anything he didn't have coming to him." You hit the car in frustration.

"Seriously? _Seriously_! You almost made him kill himself you good for nothing horse festering fuck!" 

"Well...that'th not my fault." Seething, you kick the car and get into it, starting it and flying out of the driveway in reverse.

"So fucking help me Captor I'm going to rip  your lisp inducing  tongue out of your fucking ass!" You hang up and attempt to drive the speed limit. No need to get in an accident. Captor's ass beating will come whether or not it's right this second.

Sollux's house is a matter of twenty minutes from the  Vantas  household  if going by the normal speed limit. It only takes you twelve minutes until you're pulled up on the curb outside of the apartment complex. You ring the lady who lives above  Sollux, because there's no way he's buzzing you in if he knows you're coming, asking her to buzz you in because you forgot something at a friends. The old woman doesn't object and buzzes you in quickly. You'd have to remember to thank her for that later.

On your way up you pass a girl with a ridiculous amount of hair who looks vaguely familiar. Once on the douche bags floor you go to his door and bang on it until he opens.

"Woah, hey don't juth' t barge in here like that." You snarl and turn, swinging a fist that connects painfully solid against the underside of Sollux's jaw. You curse as you shake your head which you're sure is going to need to be iced while Sollux recovers slowly from his position on the floor. "What the fuck you ath'hole!"  


"I want you to explain to me  why I shouldn't gouge your stupid ass eyes right here and now." Sollux stands ever so slowly while rubbing his jaw, checks the hallway, and shuts the door behind him and scowls.

"I don't know what you want me to th'ay. I didn't do anything wrong." You turn, fist yanking at your hair before turning and lashing out. Sollux stumbles back into the door still holding his jaw, glasses hanging on the end of his nose from his attempt at not getting hit again.

"I'm so  done  with your shit Sollux. If our friendship means a god damn thing to you, you'll tell me right now why you did it!" You both stare at each other, neither speaking. You step forward, causing the taller to flinch. "Get out of the way, I'm done with you."

Sollux  doesn't move and you're just so tired and done with him that you kick him to the floor without warning. "I said get out of the way."

"KK,  th'eriouth'ly . Don't go. You know I was juth't playing around." You sigh and open the door. A hand tugs at the hem of your jeans. "Ok, okay. I'm th'orry. Jeez all I did was  me'th  with the guy. I didn't think he'd go and try to off himth'elf." You glare down at the brunet but don't move.

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."  You can visibly see the other swallow. Slowly he stands and looks at you; you look away. 

"Fine, if it'll keep you from shitting your pant'th ." You frown and look up at him, temper beginning to flare again.

"I'm not joking Sollux. I need you to apologize to him and mean it. If you can't even see your mistake here I don't want to be around you, I don't want to know you." Your eyebrows furrow and you look out of the door into the hallway. His gaze lingers on you before he walks away, scratching his head.

"Okay, I do underth'tand, I really do. I juth't. I'm a complete dickweed  th'ometimes  alright? I'm an a'th and I don't deserve as good a friend as you are to me." You keep the door open, but turn and cross your arms. Sollux sits on the couch, elbows resting on his knees. "I'll talk to him alright?" The words sound sincere enough. You sigh and shut the door to join him. 

You sit close enough that your knees almost touch and mimic his body stature. "I was so scared when I saw him, Sollux . I don't even know him that well, just that I never would had I not been there tonight." You swallow thickly. "I mean, we used to talk a lot as kids. He was so, different . I met his dad once, the guy's a real dick. I can see why he always acted all self righteous, he was just trying to follow in the man's footsteps." You're unsure of the sudden confessions and think maybe they're more admittance to yourself and not to the guy sitting next to you. 

Sollux clears his throat, looking at you. "KK, look. I should've known better. He juth't, bothers me. It'th fun to me'th with him and I gue'th I went a bit far huh?" He rubs the back of his neck and you glare at him. "I juth't, he'th th'uch a pretenciou'th douche and I wanted to  kinda  me'th with him. Then one thing led to another and he was on the ground, we were all kicking him..." Sollux frowns and you feel just a pang of pity for him, but it quickly dissolves. He's still in the wrong.

"He's staying at my house for tonight, and I'm keeping him over tomorrow. You ever do anything again, fucking look at him wrong, and I'll knock your teeth out. I will come after  you  and your brother won't be the only one needing therapy." You stare at him firmly and stand. He watches you as you leave and you don't look back down the hall until you're in the elevator. 

When the doors close you slump against the wall and run a hand through your hair. You're so done and so tired.  The drive back to your house is a longer one, no need to get pulled over now. And once you get back inside and go to the den Eridan's awake. You wonder for a second if you had woken him up but with the tiredness you feel you simply kick off your shoes and climb back under the covers with him. You grab his hand, whether it's because you need it or he needs it you aren't sure, and squeeze it tight. You're quick to fall asleep after that and you think maybe just before you're really gone you feel something warm on your head and feel just a might bit better.

Your name is  Karkat Vantas  and you're very tired.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so I changed the order of the second and third chapter because it seemed to make more sense like this. As to updates, I should update within the next month (I know that's a really long time) and I'm sorry for taking so long but I've had a really bad writing block and just recently have thought of ideas of where to take this. So stick around for that and hopefully it won't take another 4 or so months to get chapters up.

The next morning Eridan wakes up on his side, curled against something radiating heat. His ribs ache along with the rest of him, but he ignores it in favor of the rhythmic rise and fall  under his head. 

"Hey, I know you're awake."  Eridan keeps still as his head is lifted then set back down a moment later. "Eridan?" He cracks an eye open to see Karkat's face looming just above him. 

 "Mm?" Brown eyes watch him closely.

 "Are you hungry? My dad and brother left, but he's letting me stay home from school today to stay with you."  Eridan nods slowly, eyes closing again. "Okay, well you're going to have to be up to eat it so come on, I'll give you something actually warm to wear." He wants to put up a fight, but follows instructions and stands up slowly, still rubbing the grogginess from his eyes. 

 "Sorry..." The words are soft and he rubs his arm in his discomfort.

 "Why? You aren't the person in the wrong. You have no reason to be sorry." Karkat's eyebrows are furrowed but he has a soft look to his eyes that makes Eridan  want to break down again.

Instead of protesting he follows Karkat  to what seems to be his room while the Iranian searches through drawers and a closet for clothing. 

 "Medium should fit you right?" Karkat looks over his shoulder at him. "Alright. Here, these should fit. Might be a little short though." Eridan takes the clothing with a small smile. "You can change in here, I'll be back in a second." The shorter leaves and shuts the door behind him, leaving Eridan to stand awkwardly for a moment before stripping and tugging the other clothes on. He looks around at the room, holding his clothing in his arms as he shifts from heel to heel. Karkat comes back a few minutes later and takes the clothing from his arms . 

 "Those feel good?" He nods. "Alright come on. I've got breakfast out here." The Iranian leads them down two short halls, stopping to go into one room and coming out without his old clothes, and shows him to the kitchen.

 "Smells good in here." His stomach growls at the scent of something unfamiliar, yet smooth and almost like eggs. 

 "Yeah, my dad cooked some stuff before he left. So I heated it up a bit."  Karkat  points at a stool at a counter and motions for him to sit. He does and rests his hands on his thighs. Karkat brings two plates of something over and he notices a vast array of vegetables and meats in it. His mouth starts to salivate at the sight. "Well eat up. Seriously, you're a twig." 

 Eridan  points his fork aggressively at Karkat and takes a bite, letting out a deep breath when he does.

 "That's really good."

"Your capability to repeat the same thing over and over when, yes, I know seems to be working." The Iranian gives a small grin across the counter at him.  "So I was thinking you and me could just hang out and relax here today. Try not to aggravate your body and have you rest a bit." Eridan gawks the entire time Karkat speaks, who in turn glares at him afterwards. 

 "Really? You'd let me stay all day?" Karkat sighs and nods.

"You really don't do this? I mean you always talk about how high and mighty your family is, yet you don't have friends?" The question is completely innocent in manner but  Eridan pokes at the food again, looking down.

 Eridan goes rigid, about to say something back but stops. The guy in front of him had helped him when he didn't have to. Had cared .Taking a calming breath he shakes his head. "It's all I've got. I'm worthless otherwise." 

A tan hand reaches out and covers his own. His skin prickles at the surprising action but he doesn't move away.

 "You're not worthless. No one is. You're here for a reason and there are people that love you. And while you might not see it now you will later." The hand gives his a tight squeeze, he looks up, "And even if not you're important to me." The shaking starts slowly, first only his hands and moves up his body until he's shaking so bad tears stream down his face in hot waves. 

Karkat stands and moves around the counter to hold him and rub his back, speaking soft things to him. He doesn't know how long they stay like that before they go back out to the living room to curl up on the sofa and watch some movies and have a feelings jam.

Later that evening Karkat ends up calling his house again to say where he is. And when his brother and dad get home he offers dinner. His dad tells him it's okay for him to stay another night until the weekend and he takes him up on the offer immediately.

 He and Karkat go up to his room that night to sleep and he ends up curled between the wall and the short, but very warm Iranian. For once he's not afraid for the next day or wanting to end that one. He feels, happy.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 1 of 2; Karkat and Eridan hang out for the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, that managed to take a couple of months. Sorry guys. School and band have just been taking up so much time again, so I probably won't be posting regularly still, but I will try to work on chapters during and after school when I have time. And thanks for all of the lovely comments and kudos!

 

 

Eridan woke up for the second time that week sore and confused, but issurrounded by a foreign heat that he really doesn't want to move away from.

He opens his eyes and wipes away some of the gunk that built up overnight, looking at Karkat when his eyes focus again. The Iranian is curled towards him with a large hoard of blankets in his grasp, and the sight makes him smile lightly. It sure is a sight he could get used to. Unfortunately, the fact that his bladder is full to the highest capacity and is going to burst if he doesn't use the bathroom now, ruins the pleasant moment. 

"Kar," he shakes Karkat's shoulder lightly. "Karkat, I've got to piss like we ain't on a planet covered mostly in water an there's been a drought for years. I'm goin' to quench the earth with my piss if you don't tell me where the bathroom is." That seems to catch the shorter boy's attention - to which he had been groaning and swatting at  Eridan's  hand.

"Down the hall 'n to the left. Jesus just let me sleep for like two more seconds." Satisfied with an answer,  Eridan climbs over Karkat and trots out of the room to the bathroom. After he's finished relieving himself and checking his bruises and cuts in the mirror - a good many which have turned purple and yellow, and are puffy with ungodly pain to the touch - he walks back to the youngest Vantas's room quietly. 

A quick glance to the digital clock on the bedside table shows that it's only just past seven and he starts to feel bad for waking Karkat up. So he climbs back into the bed quietly and as quickly as possible before getting back under the covers, which still hold some of the heat from when he had previously been lying there. He makes sure to move as close to the wall as possible and keeps his eyes trained on the Iranian with a sort of fondness.

"Hey shit for brains, get the fuck over here. The wall's cold and that won't help you at all."  Karkat's voice is groggy and rough from just waking up, and if that doesn't make  Eridan's  stomach turn into a frenzy of insects he doesn't know what will. 

When the blankets are held up for him to move closer he can't help the small smile that finds it's way to his lips . So he shifts over until he's close enough to feel Karkat's breath warm on his cheeks and the arm drops lightly over his ribs. For a second he panics, he's not quite sure what to do so close, and is reminded of being thrown to the ground and beaten. The shorter boy seems to notice and cracks his dark brown eyes open.

"Is this alright? Sorry if it's not, I'm a bit of a cuddler ." Eridan shakes his head and reaches out a tentative hand to grasp Karkat's. He twines their fingers a bit, his thumb feeling the planes of Karkat's skin and bones. Surprisingly, Karkat's hands are quite soft even though they look calloused from work Eridan is unfamiliar with.

"It's fine, I just didn't know what to do for a moment." He swallows dryly, meeting  Karkat's  gaze, "I've never done this before." The words are soft and  a light  flush spreads down his cheeks at the slight embarrassment he feels. 

Karkat  'oh's  and moves around for a moment, shuffling things around them, propping pillows and tucking the blankets underneath their sides. "Then let the cuddling master teach you the ways. And I'm a fucking cuddle master because I'm compact , so everyone thinks it's 'cute' to cuddle me. They can think what they want but I so monopolize the cuddling and feelings jam businesses."  Karkat nods his head, then motions for Eridan to lift his. He does and the Iranian places his right arm under his head, the other wrapping loosely over his side to which he immediately starts rubbing his fingers both carefully and soothingly over Eridan's shirt covered skin.

"Put your arm under mine." He does as he's told and squeezes his arm just below Karkat's armpit, making them complete the cuddle hug. Already Karkat 's heat is enveloping him in a comfortable way, and he yawns noticing just how tired he still is.

"We'll get up in an hour or so. I  wanna  take you somewhere. But my policy when you're in this house is no getting up before eight. Not even if the house is one fire. I'll fit my fat ass out of that window when the fire's next to my bed before getting up before eight." Karkat's  rambling goes from sleepy banter to a rugged sort of whisper that trails off to slow breathing. And soon Eridan finds himself following, sleep rushing over him like a rapid. 

 

o-o-o-o-o

It doesn't seem that long when he feels movement and opens his eyes with a yawn.  Karkat's  got a concentrated look on his face, tongue sticking out and eyebrows furrowed. 

"Whatta ya doin' Kar?" Karkat  doesn't say anything, simply messes with something on his head that actually feels really nice. When he goes to look up and see what it is, a hand catches him by the side of his face.

"Shh, I'm playing with your hair." He doesn't say anything, simply letting Karkat finish. The Iranian drags his fingers over Eridan's scalp, rubbing circles or tugging small sections of his hair lightly.  Eridan  closes his eyes and  sighs  lightly, enjoying the feeling.

It's a little while later when he gets a reply to his previous question. "You're hair is really fucking soft. Like if you could translate baby butt soft into hair soft this is what it would feel like." Karkat  makes a small noise in his throat before finally looking down to meet Eridan's  eyes and almost shrugs. "You were still sleeping so I was occupying myself. It was pretty nice."

Eridan  nods as he licks his lips. He could really go for some water right now. 

"Well now that you're awake I guess we should get up." He wants to protest as Karkat starts to sit up but can't bring himself to actually speak. "So water for you, a lovely endearing note to my father, and then you and me are going to hang out for today."

Eridan shuffles until he's sitting up as well and nods his head before stretching his arms. There's a dull throb near his collarbone because of the motion but he ignores it  in favor of dropping his arms so he can press his fingers into his ribs lightly to see how much they still hurt. Which is an incredible amount still. 

Karkat walks around and shuffles through things, all the while mumbling to himself. "Your clothes are probably clean by now, so you should be able to wear those, but I'll give you a scarf and stuff when we leave."  Eridan  watches as  Karkat  stretches his arms over his head, a small section of his shirt above his hips revealing how terrifying he'd be if anyone was in opposition to him. He definitely didn't look that muscular wearing his pooling tee shirts. 

With a shake of his head,  Eridan slides to the edge of the bed and stands up as well so he can follow Karkat out of the room. Then he's given his clothes to change back into and a temporary toothbrush to use after they eat a breakfast of cereal and coffee.

"Here." Karkat shoves a hat onto Eridan's head after they've gathered what they need for wherever they're going.  Eridan blinks and moves the hat back so it's not over his eyes and notices Karkat's got one on his own head too with tufts of dark curls splayed out underneath the edges. "And a scarf too."  Karkat  takes one of the scarves that is hanging off of his shoulder to wrap loosely around Eridan's neck. It's a bit amusing with the Iranian on the tips of his toes straining to get it over Eridan's head. In the end Eridan has to lean down some to help while Karkat grumbles about genetics.

"So, where are we goin '?"

"On a walk." Karkat turns to grab his keys from a hook on the wall before opening the door. There's immediately a gust of cool wind passing them and golden hued light on  Karkat's  features.

"Oh. Where to?" 

"Places. Why do you ask so many questions?"  Eridan  shrugs in response and heads out of the door when  Karkat  motions for him to. After Karkat locks the door, he leads them down the steps and out onto the sidewalk where he sets a decently quick pace  to a mysterious destination . 

Eridan blinks from the brightness of the sun through the colored leaves on the trees, and looks around realizing it's the first time he's seeing this area. The neighborhood is quaint and the houses are small and close together, front yards are small rectangles of yellowing grass covered in leaves and decorated with picnic tables or gardens. It's nothing like his own large home that is always bustling with people who tend to it and the many animals there. 

Karkat's small movements to the side of him pulls him from his thoughts to watch as clouds of white mist puff out from behind Karkat's dark scarf. The simple action causes a small smile to pull up at the corners of  Eridan's lips until the split in his top one throbs and he has to make himself stop smiling so he doesn't reopen it. 

Eridan feels like he should say something-- thank  Karkat, perhaps. But his throat feels dried up and his nose is cold and for once, he doesn't want the silence to end. Despite the chilly air around them, Eridan can't help but feel warmed from the inside as he accidentally bumps elbows with  Karkat due to their walking so close. Karkat seems to be in his own thoughts as well with his eyebrows knit and his eyes looking but not seeing. They continue to bump arms as they walk until they're eventually just walking with their arms pressed together at their sides.

"I really like autumn. It's not hot so I don't have to worry about getting all sweaty and I can wear pants so I don't have to worry about the hair- pocolypse on my legs either. Not  gonna  lie though, it's a pain in the ass to deal with once it gets warmer again."  Karkat  speaks offhandedly with a few basic arm gestures as they cross a street. And Eridan can't help but admire how  Karkat's  eyes reflect gold hues even though they're the darkest brown he's ever seen, and how the Iranian's light brown skin has flushed a lazy pink on the outer edges of his jaw and the bridge of his nose. He also notices now in the light that  Karkat  has extremely long eyelashes that overlap into themselves as well as touch his cheeks and his upper eyelids. 

Now that he's started noticing things,  Eridan  can't help but see more and more and wonder why he didn't stay friends with  Karkat after elementary school. Despite having gone to a private junior high, he'd still lived close to the Vantas's until just recently. The thought makes him cast his eyes down and watch the sidewalk scattered with leaves.

Karkat had always been intelligent and nice to Eridan. Moreso than anyone else he'd ever met, and that was saying a lot. Karkat was also attractive and hard working. Even back when they were kids, Karkat had the build of someone who was used to doing things and would only grow on that as they got older. And not for the first time since Thursday,  Eridan wonders why Karkat had even bothered to stop.

"Hey," Karkat leans over a bit and knocks Eridan out of his path for a moment. "You doing all right in there? You look a little zoned out." Eridan looks up then and shakes his head.

"I'm good. Just thinkin' about some stuff." The answer seems to satisfy Karkat  when he goes back to looking ahead and puffing out clouds of air. For a little while, Eridan doesn't say anything back, but he notices the sudden need he has to simply hold onto  Karkat  in some way; to feel his warmth again like he'd experienced it this morning. 

"Um, Kar?" Karkat looks up, an eyebrow raised inquisitively. 

"Yeah?" 

"Could we, I mean, I  kinda just wanted to..."  Eridan trails off and sighs before reaching up to run a hand through his hair. 

"You should work on your asking questions skills because they're lacking pretty badly right now." Karkat casts a sideways glance at Eridan in amusement, even a small upturn lift at the corners of his mouth as they walk.

"I, well, sorry."  Eridan  can't help smiling back sheepishly as he tries to organize his thoughts. "Well I was just thinking we could hold...hands...or somethin'. If you wanted." He glances down at the sidewalk again, chewing the inside of his cheek. 

At first Karkat doesn't do anything. Doesn't reach out and doesn't reply. This manages to make Eridan very skittish as he continues keeping in step with the shorter. Then Karkat takes a hand out of his pocket and takes Eridan's  without so much as a blink of his eyes. But Eridan nearly jumps out of his skin before telling himself it's just  Karkat holding his hand and he relaxes a bit. He relaxes further when Karkat's  thumb begins moving in slow circles on the outside junction of his thumb.

"Thanks." 

Karkat shrugs a shoulder, mumbling, "It's not a big deal." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I still don't have much of this planned considering it was only supposed to be a oneshot, but if anyone has any ideas or suggestions as to what should happen next or what they'd like to see, I could possibly put it in. You can email me at keeblochan@gmail.com, message me on tumblr (keeblochan), or leave a comment on any of these chapters. It would do me a lot of good if I could get some ideas to work with, so don't be shy!

**Author's Note:**

> If you want more just let me know :3 (because I'm so insecure shh)


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